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Still Alice – Lisa Genova
I found it hard to put this book down; Still Alice is at once a compelling piece of fiction and a moving portrayal of a woman living with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It was originally a self-published novel and has had extraordinary success. Recommended by the Alzheimer’s Association and now a critically-acclaimed film starring Julianne Moore, Still Alice portrays a way of life that is usually left unheard.
The novel is written in first-person from the perspective of the sufferer which makes it all the more relatable and insightful. Alice is not an eighty-year-old stereotypical Alzheimer’s patient either, she is fifty years old and still in the heights of her career. The reader understands the world through Alice’s eyes – when she first realises she is having memory and orientation problems, to when she is diagnosed, to when she can no longer remember the names of her children. We see the good days and the bad days; we are confused when Alice sees a black hole in front of the door (which she later realises is only the doormat), we are frustrated when she can no longer go running alone and we are sad when her daughters are identified only as “the mother” and “the actress”. The narrative takes on her changing voice – at first, she has the precision of a University Psychology Professor but later on, words are generic and places become vague. For example, children in the park are “medium-sized” and she recognises her husband as: “the man who owned the house” who “was reading a book and drinking a drink”.
We witness Alice’s moments of breakdown and her consideration of suicide, as well as her joy when she manages to start a small group of other younger Alzheimer’s sufferers so they can support one another: “They laughed and cried over stories of lost keys, lost thoughts, and lost life dreams. Alice felt unedited and truly heard. She felt normal.” Towards the end, even being part of the group is a struggle. She loses connections with others but also with herself. Alice declares “I miss myself” when she realises she can no longer understand a book she once wrote: “This thick book with the shiny blue cover represented so much of what she used to be”.
We see the destructive reality of the disease and its fateful nature – having the relevant gene guarantees having the disease; a disease with no cure. Alice articulates this one-sided battle: “This disease will not be bargained with. I can’t offer it the names of the United States presidents in exchange for my children. I can’t give it the names of the state capitals and keep the memories of my husband”. She is powerless to Alzheimer’s but she resists its power to make her life meaningless - Alice is worthy of admiration. She can laugh at herself when she make ridiculous mistakes, she can speak at a conference, she can organise a support group. She also accepts her diagnosis, more so than her husband who for a long time looks for a second opinion, an alternative or a cure.
Towards the end of the novel, Alice can no longer do her job, recognize her friends, find her way home or keep track of conversations. Yet, as she movingly points out in her speech at the Annual Dementia Care Conference, this does not mean that her life does not matter: “My yesterdays are disappearing, and my tomorrows are uncertain, so what do I live for? I live for each day. I live in the moment. Some tomorrow soon, I’ll forget that I stood before you and gave this speech. But just because I’ll forget it some tomorrow doesn’t mean I didn’t live every second of it today. I will forget today, but that doesn’t mean that today didn’t matter.”
This book forces us to revaluate what is important in life and not to take for granted the little comforts we have that usually go unnoticed – the ability to walk around the neighbourhood, to read a book, to plan ahead, to share memories with our families. It also draws attention to the flaws of her family and the reader’s own flaws. And we are reminded that memory is never infallible: “even biographies not saturated with disease were vulnerable to holes and distortions”.
All in all, Still Alice is well worth a read – as a good story, as a book that will make you both laugh and cry and as a challenging insight into the world of dementia from someone who is living with the disease and young enough to understand how this will change her life and the lives of her family.
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Popular highlights in this book
And while a bald head and a looped ribbon were seen as badges of courage and hope, her reluctant vocabulary and vanishing memories advertised mental instability and impending insanity. Those with cancer could expect to be supported by their community. Alice expected to be outcast. Even the well-intentioned and educated tended to keep a fearful distance from the mentally ill.Highlighted by 188 Kindle readers- But I am not what I say or what I do or what I remember. I am fundamentally more than that.Highlighted by 184 Kindle readers
- When will I no longer be me? Is the part of my brain that’s responsible for my unique ‘meness’ vulnerable to this disease? Or is my identity something that transcends neurons, proteins, and defective molecules of DNA? Is my soul and spirit immune to the ravages of Alzheimer’s? I believe it is.Highlighted by 156 Kindle readers
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 September 2016
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2018
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- Nilu AsadReviewed in India on 4 June 2017
Kudos to Lisa Genova!
After reading this book, one can never look at Alzheimer's the same way again. Alice's story scared me a lot. I lived her story along with her, cried when she did and smiled at her accomplishments. Sometimes, I did feel that the plot was too lengthy with medical descriptions and all but still was captivated by Alice's plight. At the same time, I felt for John, who loved his wife so much that I could understand why he didn't want to deal with it. It's hard to think how he must have felt. This book definitely had a big impact on me. The film was not as good as the book but decent to watch. This book is unputdownable. Definitely must read and an interesting one too. Hope they find a cure for Alzheimer's soon.Nilu AsadKudos to Lisa Genova!
Reviewed in India on 4 June 2017
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